The stuff I'm working on is quite dense. I'm seeing every four bars as a scene in a film.

There's a need for pop. There's a need for radio. There's also a need to understand the brilliance and the depth of jazz and soul - and what hip-hop can be at its most brilliant and what hip-hop can be at its most simplistic.

If you holding up the wall then you missing the point

The battle thing is very important in hip-hop, but at the same time, I want to sit down and have a beer and listen to Rakim.

There are situations where I'm uncomfortable saying, "I'm a hip-hop artist." In some circles, the response is like, "Oh, OK, so... you have whores and your ties are shiny?"

You have to understand the vehicle, the form that allows you to do what you do, and why that is.

It mattered what someone did to allow you to have the forum to do what you're doing.